1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to musical apparatus and, more particularly, relates to a novel combination by which a musician may control the output of a musical synthesizer, while playing his own musical instrument in a normal manner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that musicians and composers are constantly seeking ways to make more interesting sounds.
Recently, the composers have acquired new electronic apparatus known as a "synthesizer", this being capable of producing (synthesizing) an enormous variety of electric waveforms that may be applied to loudspeakers--thereby producing an extremely wide spectrum of "electronic" sounds, some of which approximate known sounds, and others of which are entirely new. The basics of these synthesizers are discussed in the book entitled "The New World of Electronic Music" by Walter Sear, the author making such statements as " . . . makes it possible to generate tens of thousands of entirely new sounds" (page 69); "It is like inventing a new instrument every time that the synthesizer is programmed." (page 71); "The synthesizer can also generate many sounds which cannot be produced by the human voice, nor by any other instrument." (page 72).
Many musical composers are enthralled by this new synthesizer; and new musical compositions are appearing in ever-increasing numbers.
Unfortunately for the musical instrumentalist, however, no new musical instruments have been introduced in a relatively long time; so that instrumentalists have generally been limited to improving their playing techniques. While it is true that electronic systems have been developed for some instruments--such as the guitar, the drum, the accordian, etc.--these electronic systems have generally comprised selective amplifiers that merely changed the balance of the musical tones and/or provided limited special effects.
It is, therefore, still desirable to introduce new ways by which an instrumentalist can produce new and exciting sounds.